Month-end close: the checklist that keeps it boring

1. Cut off AP and AR on the same day, every cycle — no late invoices sneaking into last month's numbers.
2. Reconcile every bank and credit card account before touching anything else.
3. Review and post recurring journal entries (depreciation, prepaid amortization, accruals).
4. Reconcile intercompany balances if you have more than one entity.
5. Run a preliminary trial balance and scan for anything that moved more than it should have.
6. Investigate every variance over your materiality threshold — not just the big obvious ones.
7. Lock the period once reviewed, so nothing posts to a closed month by accident.
8. Distribute financials on the same day of the month, every month, without exception.

None of this is clever. That's the point. Month-end close should be the most boring, most predictable process in the business — the same eight steps, in the same order, on the same schedule, whether it's a slow month or the busiest one of the year.

Firms that struggle with close usually aren't missing a step from this list. They're missing the discipline to run it identically every single cycle, which is what actually prevents the 11 PM scramble on day five.